Charles A Cornell

I write speculative fiction ranging from the mysterious to the macabre, blending science fiction and fantasy with alternative history and horror. I conduct webinars and workshops on my specialties Steampunk and Dieselpunk. You can find me at writers conferences and steampunk fairs where I motivate new writers to find creativity in the chaos. Don’t be afraid to explore this multi-layered website. It has many portals into the fictional worlds I create, with hidden surprises in all kinds of nooks and crannies.

My mystery thriller Tiger Paw won the Florida Writers Association Royal Palm Literary Award for Best Thriller in 2012 and was a national semi-finalist for the Kindle Book Review’s Best Indie Book of the Year.

My science fantasy dieselpunk novel DragonFly won a 2014 RPLA Bronze Medal in Science Fiction, is a featured selection by the Library Journal, and won the 2018 Reader’s Favorite Silver Medal in the Young Adult/Action category.

My short stories have featured in the anthologies The Prometheus Saga, Return To Earth, and In Shadows Written. Two of my sci-fi short stories have won Gold Medals at the FWA’s Royal Palm Literary Awards. Crystal Night, about an alien in Nazi Germany, was the 2016 RPLA Best Novella. The Orchid Man, about an alien in the Vietnam War, was the 2019 RPLA Best Novelette.

New Release! Six Amazing Steampunk Paranormal Mysteries

From the pomp of The Imperial Quarter to the slums of Pritchard’s Green. From the furnaces of The Barrens to The Theatre Macabre. Join Professor Carr and Jeremiah Boone on six amazing adventures as they unravel metaphysical mysteries and do battle with deranged scientists and diabolical daemons in the Steampunk Britannia of 1872.

EXPLORE STEAMPUNK

2018 Reader’s Favorite Silver Medal – YA Action

2014 FWA Royal Palm Literary Award – Bronze Medal

It’s 1942. Veronica Somerset battles the odds to become Britain’s first female fighter pilot in a World War re-imagined like never before. Fantastic technology. Dangerous fighting machines. Wizards battling across the boundary between good and evil. An unlikely heroine has the fate of a nation in her hands.

A wild 5-star dieselpunk adventure set in an alternative WW2.

EXPLORE DIESELPUNK

Crystal Night – 2016 FWA Royal Palm Literary Award – Gold Medal – an alien experiences the Holocaust in 1938 Nazi Germany. A short story from the multiple award winning anthology The Prometheus Saga.

Children Of The Stars: 2018 FWA Royal Palm Literary Award Finalist – a Sci-Fi short story in the Return To Earth anthology. Children of The Stars will be the basis of a new Sci-Fi novel series. They were abducted. Now they’ve returned. The human race has been transformed, reborn in space. Our current species is threatened. But how can we tell who they are, before it’s too late?

EXPLORE Sci-Fi

2012 FWA Royal Palm Literary Award – Best Thriller

A serial killer dismantles a corrupt Wall Street financier’s empire one body at a time. FBI profiler Scott Forrester uncovers the deadly secret of the demon-worshipping Hindu cult behind the murders. Firmly in their assassin’s crosshairs, he’s forced to take the fight underground to stop the killing spree.

EXPLORE THRILLERS

A Survivor’s Guide to Working at a Big Corporation is an irreverent look at corporate culture. This book was written to be as different from other business self-help books as possible. In today’s economy you need all the survival tips you can get.

Could a complete idiot run your BigCorp better than your current CEO? Find out in Harvey Drinkwater & The Cult of Savings.